Ken
by Fundindar
Summary: Ken: The Miracle Son, born from the forbidden love of a Ghoul and a Human. A symbol of dedication from mother, of strength from father. Or perhaps fear and cowardice? Takatsuki Sen: The daughter of a father long gone, spawn of a selfish cowardly mother. What if Kaneki had been a natural half-ghoul? What if he was born to Yoshimura & Ukine? M for Tokyo Ghoul themes. Kaneto planned.
1. Ken

"Daaaaad!"

"Shh, Ken, come on, just wait for dad to come back, I won't be long."

"Dada, where's mum?" The ghoul Kuzen froze.

"Don't worry about mum Ken, just promise your dad to be quite and stay here." The small white haired boy that Kuzen treasured as his miracle son had small tears in his eyes as he nodded. Kuzen grasped the small boy by the shoulders and was about to say something else, before yelling and footsteps echoed down the tunnel. Kuzen looked fearfully down the passage, where lights from the CCG investigators danced off the slick walls. Kuzen hugged his only son tightly, then ran to head off the pursuers.

Kuzen's gaze hardened as he ran further from his son, closer to danger. He sent a mental command and his Kagune burst from his back, creeping up his body and covering his face, upper body and limbs, spikes forming from his shoulders and across his upper back. He was powerful. He was a Ghoul. He was a Kakuja.

The ghoulish father stopped and stood his ground in the backwater sewer, one of his Kakugan glowing brightly through his Kakuja mask. The group of CCG investigators skidded to a halt in front of their target. Kuzen had chosen the battleground, and they would pay for it.

Kuzen roared and thrust his Kagune forward, crystallised shards of RC cells bursting forth from his back and shoulders and showering the ghoul investigators with deadly blades.

One of the investigators rushed forward, his Quinque deploying and creating a shield for the other investigators. As the flower like shield closed up a man with light blond hair rushed up with a spine-type Quinque, whipping it around as he ran towards the Kakuja. Kuzen parried the strike with one of his right shoulder Kagune and thrust with a left one, stabbing the investigator in the thigh. Immediately, two other investigators rushed past their fallen comrade and attacked with sword Quinques, forcing Kuzen back several steps. With precise blows the Owl incapacitated the woman and smacked the man back towards the group of investigators.

Then a blonde haired woman had stepped forward wielding a Rinkaku type Quinque and barked a order. She attacked with the two tendrils and drove Kuzen back several more meters, forcing him onto the defensive. Other investigators moved to help their wounded comrades, but two were restraining the blond he has stabbed first. The woman in front of Kuzen shouted behind her.

"Retreat Mado! As your senior investigator that's an order! I'll hold him off while you all escape!"

_How unfortunate that we are both defending someone_. Kuzen thought grimly as he attacked with his shoulder Kagune, pushing the woman back several meters. He would give the other CCG investigators enough time to get out of sight before he would kill her, Kuzen decided. The human and ghoul traded blows back and forth, Kuzen evading all damage but dealing next to none in return.

Then the rest of the CCG were gone. Then Kuzen changed his fighting style from precise stabs to brute force. Then, surprised by the sudden change, the woman caught a blow right in the abdomen, tossing her into a wall. Kuzen stalked towards her on his armoured legs, the woman climbing unsteadily to her feet.

She coughed blood onto her white suit, and Kuzen slammed his Kagune into her again, tossing her to the ground. She lost her Quinque and crashed into the dirty shallow water. Kuzen walked towards her again. She rose to all fours, then shakily to her feet, staring death in the face as he stalked towards her. Kuzen showed no mercy as he plunged his Kagune into the woman's torso, rupturing organs in a blow that was fatal for any human.

She looked down at the Kagune as it was drawn from her body. She didn't even scream as she slowly, almost as if in slow motion, sunk to her knees, blood pouring from the gaping wound in her chest. Her blood stained the water, swirling like some exotic beast as it mixed with the dirty substance. The light left her eyes and she slumped sideways into the tunnel wall, dying in a sewer under Tokyo.

Kuzen sighed as his Kagune dissipated, before turning and running off to pick up Ken. What he found was not Ken however. Not even a single trace. Kuzen sniffed the air, and could tell a human had been here not long ago. The smell was faint however, as the sewer water was washing it away.

Washing away the last traces of his son.

Kuzen, wide eyed and fearful, took off after the scent of his beloved treasure. As he ran though, he knew it was futile. There were too many intersections and junctions, and the father had already lost the scent of of his only other living family to the rushing water that seemed to echo all around him. His desperate running became walking as the ghoul was defeated by putrid sewers under the massive Tokyo city. He slumped to his knees and screamed a scream full of anguish and despair.

Kuzen cried as his scream was multiplied and echoed and thrown back at him by the acoustics of the confined tunnels.

* * *

"When will I see mama?" The white haired two-year-old asked the middle aged woman who pulled him by the hand from the stinking sewers.

"Soon, not too long now hun."

"Dad told me to wait for him." The boy complained as he started resisting the woman's pull. "I want to wait for dad!" He dug his heels into the hard concrete and pulled with all his toddler might against the firm grasp of the ageing woman.

"Don't you want to see your mum?" She hissed at the boy, who was still struggling in her grasp.

"Dada said not to worry about mum! I want to see dada!" The boy was now screeching his head off, tearing at the woman's vice like grip on his small arm. "Let go of me!" He screamed. Pain shot down Ken's arm as the woman's grip tightened. She jerked him closer to her and whispered in his ear. They were closer to the surface now, and Ken could hear the sounds of modern day Tokyo.

"Your dad is dead. Your mother was killed by the same people your dad works for. He is a traitorous coward who couldn't even tell the woman he loved who he was! A man like that doesn't deserve to have a child! He doesn't deserve you! I have worked my entire life! Much more so than my stupid sister! I deserve you!" Ken was scared by the woman's outburst and stopped screaming, still teary eyed. The woman took a moment to compose herself. "Ok, so you are coming home with me now. I am your new mum, and you will soon meet your new dad."

* * *

Ken stood in his room. He wore threadbare clothes several sizes too small for him and his snow white hair was dirty and oily. His room was bare except for a cast iron bed frame and a very old and thin mattress too small for the frame. That was it for his cold, small room. His 'father' stood before the four year old, a crazed look in his eye.

"Do you know why Rika has to work so much?" The man asked the boy. "She isn't home nearly at all these days because she has to work extra hard. Why does she have to work extra hard? Because some little brat is eating all our food!" The man stepped forward and struck Ken across the face. The four year old fell to the ground holding his cheek, tears welling in his eyes. "Do, you, know, why, she, doesn't, love, me?" He punctuated each word with another strike.

The man straddled the young boy and screamed into his face. "BECAUSE ALL HER LOVE IS USED UP ON YOU!" With that the man stood and slung Ken over his shoulder, carrying him to the back room of their strangely large house…

Where they kept the tools.

* * *

"Go on you little fucker. Forage in the garden or something if you hate your mum's food so much. Bastard." The door slammed, leaving Ken bare to the elements in his torn white shorts and an old black T-shirt. Sadly, he was already well past used to this kind of treatment, and started walking towards the 24th Ward.

He was a half ghoul.

Of course he couldn't eat his dreadful mother's cooking. If his mother spent more time at home, or his father was even a tiny bit more observant of the abused son, they would have noticed that as Ken grew older he consumed less food and his body grew stronger. Every day, after forcing human food down Ken's throat, his father would send him outside.

The human food, which was poisonous to Ghouls, acted as a RC Cell sedative, which allowed blades and other normal weapons to hurt the half ghoul. His regeneration was slowed, but Ken's 'father' was not a man of great intellect, or even sense, and didn't know that in normal human's extremities and limbs didn't, in fact, grow back.

So every day, when his 'father' threw him out, Ken would hunt. Or at least try to. It was very rare that the boy actually killed anybody, but Ghouls didn't need to eat as often as humans, and if Ken was really starving, he would find some corpse somewhere and feed on it instead.

And so the half ghoul's life went on in this manner.

Abused by his father,

Ignored by his mother,

Tortured every other day.

On the day of his sixth birthday however, everything changed.

* * *

Ken was lying on his back, spread eagle on the scratched and dirty floor of his room when he heard the screeching of the brakes of his father's car. Ken stayed where he was, listening to the sounds of hurried footsteps. There was a crash, and Ken could tell that his father had knocked over a stack of dirty plates in the kitchen. The expensive crockery burst into a million pieces on the hard floor.

Ken's father sprinted into his room like a madman, scooping up Ken on the way to the back room. He dumped Ken on the floor and rushed off. The man returned a moment later with a chair and a length of rope. He slammed Ken into the chair and tied him to it.

"Hey Ken." The man whispered as he walked over to the tool shelf and started searching through the drawers. "I found out why mum can't come home very much. She does work very hard, for you and me. But not just for you and me. Shee seees anotheerr maan. ANOTHER MAN!" The roaring man lifted a massive pair of bolt cutters and a soldering iron, walking over to Ken. "That's why we can afford this house! That's why we never married! That's why she goes on so many business trips, but never brings back any evidence! SHEE LOOVEES ANOTHEERR MAAN!"

The man cut off Ken's lips. The man tore out Ken's fingernails. The man slashed off Ken's fingers and painted Ken's face with his own bloodied digits. The man used the bones from Ken's arm to stab him over and over and over and over and OVER!

The soldering iron was JAMMED into Ken's inner ear.

With such force that it BROKE Ken's skull.

With such heat that it BURNED Ken's bones.

After 49 hours, Ken had symmetrical black burn lines covering his body.

After 50 hours, the marks _healed_.

After 51 hours, the marks were _retraced_ with the soldering iron.

After 52 hours, the marks _faded_.

After 53 hours, the marks were _retraced_.

After 54 hours, the marks _almost faded_

After 55 hours,the marks were _retraced_.

After 56 hours, the marks _kind of faded_

After 57 hours,the marks were _retraced_.

After 58 hours, the marks _barely changed_.

After 59 hours,the marks were _retraced_.

After 60 hours, the marks were **_permanent_**.

After 61 hours, Ken broke his bonds.

After 62 hours, Ken's pretend father lay dead and tortured on the floor.

After 62 hours, Ken sat down in the house's foyer and **waited**.

Ken waited for his pretend mother. Ken waited for mam. Ken waited for the woman who took him from the father he doesn't even remember. Ken waited for the woman who brought him to **hell** with a firm grip and a stern word. Ken waited for the woman he HATED.

* * *

**So the internet's out at my house, so what is there to do but write fanfiction, right?**


	2. Sen

Sen

* * *

Sen Takatsuki strolled from the Kamii University campus towards the Anteiku coffee shop. It had become her refuge. A quiet place with amazing coffee, where she could study and enjoy her books. Unfortunately her best friend, Hide Nagachika, had followed her and discovered the peaceful little haven. In this manner, the coffee shop had become the two friends' meeting place.

Sen entered the shop, the tiny bell ringing sweetly, and sat down in her usual spot next to the window. She opened the novel she was carrying and proceeded to wait for Hide.

A couple minutes later, just as Sen became fully engrossed in the amazing work of literature, Hide slammed his books on the table and shattered the little world around her created by the book.

"Hide!" Came the startled cry from the green haired 19 year old.

"Yo, Take!" He smiled as he greeted her with the nickname she was given by her class in 7th grade. 'Take and Hide' they had called the duo.

"Excuse me waiter! We'll have two black coffees please!" Hide ordered from across the room to the dark blue haired girl they always ordered from. The poor waiter, who was at least two years younger than Hide, rolled her eyes and wrote down the order on her notepad, passing it to the man behind the counter. Hide turned his attention back to Sen.

"So… Whatcha reading?" Sen raised a questioning eyebrow at the blond haired boy. "No seriously, the cover's interesting." Sen rolled her eyes.

"Trust you to be taken in by the cover and not the author, Hide."

"Forget about that, can you just tell me what it's about?"

"Well… You can see it's called 'The Colour of Love', and it's about this disgraced hitman who wants to find his daughter who he abandoned years ago."

"Why does he want to find her?"

"Because he's old and he finds out he has a brain tumour. So he wants her to know she's got an inheritance for when he dies. Anyway, he calls in all these debts-"

"How does he know she's still alive?"

Sen sighed. "He doesn't."

"Huh?"

"But in finding her, he will know if she's alive or dead, right?"

"Oh yeah. Carry on."

Sen sighed again. "Aaaanyway, the hitman goes out looking for the daughter, and~" As Sen continued to describe the plot to her friend, Anteiku's bell tinkled again and in walked a beautiful woman with lavender hair. Hide stared wide eyed at her as she passed, not missing the wink she shot at him. Sen glared at Hideyoshi, who slowly returned his gaze to Sen.

"Sorry, where were you?"

"Forget it. Reading the book is probably better than me explaining it. Kaneki Ken is a genius. The way he draws characters in and plays with them is just… So…" Sen sighed as she wandered in her thoughts. Hide watched with great amusement.

"Kaneki Ken-san hmmm? Does someone have a crush on their favourite author?" Hide drawled slyly, proceeding to sip his coffee with narrowed eyes. Sen choked on her own beverage.

"H-Have a crush on a _horror author_? Are you insane?" Sen spluttered as she frantically discredited the theory.

"Hmmmm, what ever you say asylum inmate number one."

"Shut up Hide. I don't even know how old he is, or even what he looks like."

"Fine. I'll drop it." He pouted dejectedly.

Just as the lull in conversation was setting in, the woman with lavender hair from before walked up to the dynamic duo's table. Hide and Sen looked up.

"Excuse me, is there a chance I could sit down for a minute?" She asked. Even as Sen was narrowing her eyes however, Hide was eagerly agreeing. As it turned out, a minute turned into a hour, and then they were outside the shop, walking home. Hide and Rize chatting amicably, while Sen walked behind them clutching her books.

As they reached a three way intersection, Rize came to a halt and regarded Hide.

"Well, it's been fun, I must say, and hope to meet you again, but it's getting late… And is it alright if I ask a small favour?"

"I'll see what I can do." Hide answered.

"Well… I've been really scared recently, all those reports of ghoul attacks…?"

"Sure, I'll walk you home!" Rize's face lit up, then Sen opened her mouth.

"No, Hide, I'll do it. I know that you live in the opposite direction." Rize shot a glare at Sen as Hide looked away from her.

"Are you sure it's alright Sen? I don't want you missing out on grades because you got home late."

"It's fine Hide. If anyone needs better grades, it's you. I'll walk Rize-san home." Hide shrugged.

"Is it ok with you, Rize?"

"Oh, ok sure, it's fine." Hide nodded.

"Ok, see yah Sen! Bye Rize!" Hide left. Just Sen and Rize. Just Takatsuki and Kamishiro. Rize started walking. Sen followed. For a while nothing. Then Sen talked.

"I don't know what your deal is, but I do know you should stay away from Hide."

Rize stopped. Rize turned. Rize talked.

"Oh, really now?" Rize put her hand to her chin and cocked her head to her side, posing like some kind of model. Sen nodded. Rize's eyes narrowed. "One condition."

"The hell you get to set conditions."

Hear me out! My one, tiny, little, insignificant condition is, that. You. DIE." Rize's sclera darkened to a terrifying black and her iris blazed a terrible red. Rize's teeth latched onto Sen's shoulder before Sen could even register how close the ghoul was. The ghoul's teeth sunk in and sucked a mouthful of blood from Sen's shoulder, swallowing it loudly. Sen gasped and dropped her books, clutching a hand to the gaping wound.

Sen watched with utter horror as her blood leaked from Rize's lips. The ghoul slowly sucked one of her blood drenched fingers. See Sen scream. See Sen turn. See Sen run.

See Sen run. See Sen glance. See Sen Scream. See Ghoul tackle. See Ghoul stab. See Sen slump. See Ghoul stalk.

See steel fall. Ghoul see steel. See steel crush. Hear steel crush. _Smell_ crushed ghoul.

See dying girl. See dead ghoul.

The colour of love is what stained her hands. The colour of blood is what pooled on the ground. The colour of love is what is splashed everywhere, because it fills each of us.

The wailing of the ambulance echoed over the rooftops of nighttime Tokyo. Sen groaned, blood the colour of love flowing freely from her wounds. Her head lolled back and she vaguely registered a figure standing on top of building she was leaning against. She squinted and tried to look closer, but was overcome by the darkness and she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

Ken liked his new name. He liked his knew life, as well.

To put it simply, he was a bestselling, young, successful author, recently publishing his eighth work.

At least, that's what a human would think.

Actually, he was the first one eyed ghoul, born only because his mother was stubborn, depraved and hopelessly in love with his father.

He was also the leader of a small ghoul organisation, which was actually building in strength quite quickly.

Ken sat in his comfortable swivel chair in a darkened room, face lit up by the monitors in front of him. His laptop displayed the final copy of his latest book, 'The Colour of Love'. He had some fun writing it, and drawing small parallels from the book's characters to his own life story.

He had ended the story with a sufficiently shocking twist, finally hinting at what the 'Colour of Love' was. He had decided that, while the protagonist was searching, he had wondered how to show his daughter he loved her. In the end, only after seeing his daughter drenched in his blood, did he realise that the colour was exactly the thing he was looking for.

Ken's cell phone rang and he picked it up from where he had carelessly tossed it earlier and read the screen. Satisfied with the contact he answered it.

"Yes doctor. Yes, you have my permission. What is the patient's name?" Ken quickly scribbled it down on a sticky note and pasted it to a monitor. "And the ghoul was…?" His eyebrows shot up. Rize had been incapacitated by steel beams? What a joke. "Thank you doctor. Yes, I'll keep an eye on her after she's released. Bye." After hanging up and tossing his phone across the room, Ken sat back in his comfortable chair and stared at the ceiling, thinking about this event.

Dr Kanou assured Ken that he could make a half-ghoul survive longer than 48 hours, and that he just needed people who responded better to the operation. Though he had little chance of success so far, Kaneki assumed that was due to a smaller sample space; Kanou had simply not tried enough times yet.

* * *

When Sen came home to her apartment she noticed the piles of overdue mail and handouts from Kami University that Hide must have been delivering. She smiled at his act (it was such a Hide thing to do) as she went about gathering the materials and bringing them into her small residence.

She was kinda hungry, so she quickly threw together a sandwich and flicked on the TV for an afternoon snack. She hardly registered the food as she was making it, but when she bit down on the bread, cheese and tomato sandwich she couldn't help but spit it out.

Sen rushed to the sink to wash her mouth out. _Maybe the cheese was off? Have I been gone long enough to not notice?_ She checked the packaging and decided she must have been keeping it wrong, because the used by was weeks away. _Maybe the power went out and the fridge stopped working. Whatever. I'm not that hungry anyway._

Sen stood and walked to the landline, quickly bringing up missed calls and messages. There were several from Hide, before she had called him on her cell from the hospital, one from the hospital in case she had a problem with her surgery, and several others from various other well wishers.

After hearing the sound of Hide's voice, her stomach grumbled. Looking at the time, she realised that it was indeed nearing dinner time. Knowing Hide, he'd probably want to go out to someplace to celebrate her being released from hospital. She picked up the phone and dialled his number.

"Hide?"

"Sen? Woah, Sen! It's been what? Five hours since we last talked? Are you taking a shining to me, wanting to hear my beautiful voice so much?" Hide sounded as happy and enthusiastic as ever, and Sen rolled her eyes at his teasing.

"I'm at my apartment now, just released from the hospital. I don't have any food in my fridge, so do you want to eat out?"

Hide mock gasped "Is the radiant Takatsuki Sen asking a humble old me out on a _date_? I though you already fancied that horror author!" Sen rolled her eyes again at the sarcasm dripping from his voice. It wasn't like they hadn't gone out to eat together before.

"No, you idiot. I'm just poor and want you to pay for my food. Now are you going to take me out or not?"

* * *

Sen had never been more embarassed in her life than she had been at the restaurant they had gone to.

Hide had chosen a small, loud place he said had good 'atmosphere'. Upon arrival she was impressed by the aroma of the place, despite being filled with people. She had ordered a steak like she always did when eating out, and made small talk (i.e., shouting) with Hide as they waited for their food.

The waiter had set the meals in front of them, and Sen had a moment of nausea as she inhaled the scent of the steak. She had internally grimaced at the feeling, and wondered what it could possibly be from. The steak _couldn't_ be off, as she knew restaurant food was bought, stored and prepared in bulk, so the chances of getting one off steak in a batch of good steaks was infinitesimally small.

And as she watched Hide enthusiastically tear apart his steak, she more and more couldn't believe that could be the case. Maybe it wasn't her steak? Someone's body odour? Old food? Muck?

Hide paused in his gorging to watch as Sen examined her meal.

"Uhhhm… Something wrong?" Hide asked. His question startled his friend and Sen shook her head and blinked at him.

"Oh… No. Nothing's wrong." She smiled thinly at him and he narrowed his eyes. He watched as she gingerly cut a sliver from her meat and placed it in her mouth. It was _terrible_. Her jaw clenched and her eyes bugged slightly as she swallowed. She was pale as a sheet.

Sen sighed and smiled slightly after swallowing and began moving to cut another piece, when suddenly her eyes filled with tears and she froze up, suddenly paralysed by abdominal pain and bile in her throat and the overwhelming urge to throw up.

_Shit._


End file.
